Walkway assembly for paving machines

ABSTRACT

A walkway assembly for a paving machine is disclosed in the present disclosure. The walkway assembly comprises a main walkway, an extender walkway, and a wheel assembly. The extender walkway telescopically extends and retracts relative to the main walkway. The wheel assembly comprises a hollow guard, a pin, and a wheel. The hollow guard includes a first hole in a first transverse member and a second hole in a second transverse member. The pin extends therethrough between the first hole and the second hole of the hollow guard. The pin couples the wheel assembly with the main walkway. The wheel is mounted on the pin and positioned inside the hollow guard. The wheel extends above the hollow guard and is in a rolling contact with the extender walkway.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to paving machines. Morespecifically, the present disclosure relates to a walkway assembly for apaving machine.

BACKGROUND

Paving machines are used for laying concrete and/or asphalt on varioussurfaces such as, a road surface, a bridge, a parking area, and thelike. The concrete and/or asphalt laid on the surfaces is given aninitial compaction using a screed coupled to the paving machine. Thepaving machine generally includes a walkway at a rear end of the screed.The walkway enables an operator to observe the paving operation.Additionally, the operator is able to control screed functionalitiesfrom the walkway since an operator control station is generally locatedin the vicinity of the walkway.

The width of extendable screeds can be varied depending on a givenpaving job. The walkway needs to be adjustable along with the screedwidth to allow an operator standing on the walkway to properly monitorthe paving operation and control the paving operation.

There are several known ways to extend and retract the walkway. Theextender walkway may slide relative to a main walkway to vary the widthof the walkway on a roller which is mounted beneath the main walkway.However, during paving operation, asphalt debris and other obstacles mayprevent or limit walkway movement, making it difficult to extend orretract when desired.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

One aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a walkway assemblyfor a paving machine. The walkway assembly includes a main walkway, anextender walkway, and a wheel assembly. The extender walkway isconfigured to telescopically extend and retract relative to the mainwalkway. The wheel assembly includes a hollow guard, a wheel, and a pin.The hollow guard includes two transverse members, and two longitudinalmembers. The hollow guard includes a first hole on the first transversemember and a second hole on the second transverse member. The pinextends therethrough between the first hole and the second hole of thehollow guard. The pin includes a first end and a second end. The wheelis mounted on the pin and positioned inside the hollow guard. The wheelextends partially above the hollow guard. The wheel is in a rollingcontact with the extender walkway. Further, the wheel assembly iscoupled to the main walkway by coupling the first end of the pin to themain walkway.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of an exemplary paving machine, inaccordance with the concepts of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a bottom perspective view of a walkway assembly, inan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of a portion of the walkwayassembly, in an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of the walkway assembly, in accordancewith the alternative embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an exploded view of a wheel assembly, in accordancewith the concepts of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of an exemplary paving machine 100, inaccordance with the concepts of the present disclosure. In reference toFIG. 1, the paving machine 100 may include a pair of hoppers 102, aconveyor, an auger 104, a screed 106, and a walkway assembly 108.

The pair of hoppers 102 of the paving machine 100 may receive asphaltand/or concrete material from a dump truck or similar transport means.The pair of hoppers 102 transfers the asphalt and/or concrete materialto the auger 104 via a conveyer (not shown in FIGs). The auger 104 maybe a rotating screw mechanism configured to dump asphalt and/or concreteon a paving surface. Examples of paving surfaces may be a road surface,a parking area, a highway, and the like. The auger 104 may dump theasphalt and/or concrete material on the paving surface in form ofstockpiles in front of the screed 106.

The asphalt and/or concrete material dumped on the ground is given aninitial compaction by the screed 106.

The screed 106 is coupled at a rear end of the paving machine 100. In anembodiment, the screed 106 includes a main screed and at least oneextender. In a preferred embodiment, the screed 106 includes twoextender slideably coupled on each side of the main screed. The at leastone extender may be extended or retracted relative to the main screedfor different pavement requirements. The at least one extender may beextended and retracted by any mechanism such as, but not limited to, ahydraulic actuating mechanism, a pneumatic actuating mechanism, anelectric actuating mechanism, a mechanical mechanism and the equivalentsthereof. The at least one extender is extended and positioned adjacentto the main screed to increase the width of the asphalt and/or concretemat being laid on the paving surface. The screed 106 provides auniformly paved surface as the paving machine 100 moves forwardly.

Furthermore, the screed 106 is coupled to the walkway assembly 108. Thewalkway assembly 108 enables an operator to observe the pavingoperation. Additionally, the operator may control functionalities of thescreed 106 from the walkway assembly 108 since an operator controlstation is generally located in the vicinity of the walkway assembly108.

FIG. 2 illustrates a bottom perspective view of the walkway assembly108, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Thewalkway assembly 108 includes a main walkway 202, an extender walkway204, and a wheel assembly 206. The extender walkway 204 istelescopically extendable and retractable relative to the main walkway202. In an embodiment, the walkway assembly 108 includes two extenderwalkways such that one extender walkway 204 may extend and retractrelative to one end of the main walkway 202 and other extender walkway204 may extend and retract relative to other end of the main walkway202. The extender walkway 204 may be coupled to the at least oneextender of the screed 106 using a support bracket 208. Therefore, theextender walkway 204 may extend and retract relative to the main walkway202 as the at least one extender extends and retracts. It may beunderstood to a person ordinarily skilled in the art that, the extenderwalkway 204 may extend or retract relative to the main walkway 202independently of the movement of the at least one extender of the screed106.

Further, the main walkway 202 is coupled to the wheel assembly 206. Inthe present embodiment, there is a single wheel assembly 206 coupled toeach end of the main walkway 202. In this embodiment, the wheel assembly206 may be coupled to the main walkway 202, such that the extenderwalkway 204 slides under the wheel assembly 206. In other words, theextender walkway 204 is positioned between the main walkway 202 and thewheel assembly 206. Alternatively, the wheel assembly 206 may bepositioned between the main walkway 202 and the extender walkway 204. Inother words, the extender walkway 204 may slide over the wheel assembly206.

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of a portion of the walkwayassembly 108, in accordance with an alternative embodiment of thepresent disclosure. In this embodiment (as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4),there are two wheel assemblies 206 coupled to each end of the mainwalkway 202. Further, the extender walkway 204 includes a first side 302and a second side 304. The first side 302 and the second side 304 of theextender walkway 204 may be of L shape, a C shape or equivalent thereof.In this embodiment (as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4), one wheel assembly206 is positioned between a first side 210 of the main walkway 202 andthe first side 302 of the extender walkway 204 and the other wheelassembly 206 is positioned between a second side 212 of the main walkway202 and the second side 304 the extender walkway 204. Therefore, thefirst side 302 and the second side 304 of the extender walkway 204 mayact as rails for the wheel assembly 206. Therefore, the extender walkway204 may slide relative to the main walkway 202 over the wheel assembly206.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exploded view of the wheel assembly 206 associatedwith the present disclosure. The wheel assembly 206 comprises a hollowguard 502, a wheel 504, and a pin 506. The hollow guard 502 includes afirst transverse member 508, a second transverse member 510, a firstlongitudinal member 512 and a second longitudinal member 514. In anembodiment, the first transverse member 508, the second transversemember 510, the first longitudinal member 512, and the secondlongitudinal member 514 forms sides of a box shaped structure such as,but not limited to, a trapezoidal shaped box. The hollow guard 502includes a first hole 516 on the first transverse member 508 and asecond hole 518 on the second transverse member 510. The hollow guard502 is configured to protect the wheel 504 from the asphalt debris.

The wheel 504 is positioned inside the hollow guard 502 and extendspartially above the hollow guard 502. Further, the wheel 504 is in arolling contact with the extender walkway 204 (as shown in FIG. 2, FIG.3 and FIG. 4). The wheel 504 is mounted on the pin 506 and is configuredto rotate with respect to the pin 506.

The wheel 504 is mounted on the pin 506 by inserting the pin 506 in athrough hole 520 of the wheel 504. Further, the pin 506 extendstherethrough between the first hole 516 and the second hole 518 of thehollow guard 502. The pin 506 includes a first end 522 and a second end524. The first end 522 of the pin 506 is coupled with the first side 210of the main walkway 202 as shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4. Thefirst end 522 of the pin 506 may be coupled with the first side 210 ofthe main walkway 202 by a method such as, but limited to, welding,fastening and the like. In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the secondend 524 of the pin 506 is coupled with the second side 212 of the mainwalkway 202. Therefore, the wheel assembly 206 is coupled with the mainwalkway 202 by coupling the first end 522 and the second end 524 of thepin 506 to the main walkway 202. In the alternative embodiment, when thewheel assembly 206 is positioned between the sides of the main walkway202 and the extender walkway 204, only the first end 522 of the pin 506is coupled to the side of the main walkway 202 as best shown in FIG. 3and FIG. 4.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present disclosure relates to the paving machine 100. The pavingmachine 100 includes the pair of hopper 102, the conveyor, the auger104, the screed 106, and the walkway assembly 108. The paving machine100 receives asphalt and/or concrete material in the pair of hoppers102. The paving machine 100 dumps the asphalt and/or concrete materialon a paving surface via the conveyor (not shown) and the auger 104 infront of the screed 106. The screed 106 gives initial compaction to theasphalt and/or concrete as the paving machine 100 moves forward. Thewidth of the screed 106 may be adjusted for different pavementrequirements. The width of the screed 106 may be varied by extending andretracting the at least one extender of the screed 106 relative to themain screed. Since, the at least one extender of the screed 106 iscoupled to the extender walkway 204 of the walkway assembly 108, theextension of the at least one extender of the screed 106 causesextension of the extender walkway 204. Therefore, the width of thewalkway assembly 108 is varied by extending and retracting the extenderwalkway 204 relative to the main walkway 202.

The extender walkway 204 extends and retracts by sliding over the wheel504 of the wheel assembly 206. The wheel 504 is positioned inside thehollow guard 502. During the paving operation, the hollow guard 502prevents the entry of asphalt material or debris between the wheel 504and the extender walkway 204. Further, the hollow guard 502 may alsoprevent the entry of asphalt material or debris between the extenderwalkway 204 and the main walkway 202. Thereby, the hollow guard 502prevents jamming of the extender walkway 204. Therefore, the wheelassembly 206 assists in easy extension and retraction of the extenderwalkway 204.

What is claimed is:
 1. A walkway assembly for a paving machine, the walkway assembly comprising: a main walkway; an extender walkway configured to telescopically extend and retract relative to the main walkway; a wheel assembly, the wheel assembly comprising: a hollow guard, wherein the hollow guard includes two transverse members and two longitudinal members, wherein the hollow guard has a first hole on the first transverse member and a second hole on the second transverse member; a pin having a first end and a second end, wherein the pin extends therethrough between the first hole and the second hole of the hollow guard; and a wheel mounted on the pin and positioned inside the hollow guard, wherein the wheel extends partially above the hollow guard and in a rolling contact with the extender walkway; and wherein the wheel assembly is coupled to the main walkway by coupling the first end of the pin to the main walkway. 